passive or active

[pab_losa]

Hello Janek,
I'm a part time bass player. I played durring the 70's and tring to come back. I feel comfortable with a jazz bass. Can you tell me the pros and cons of onboard EQ, passive or active. Keep in mind I'm doing Grand funk, James gang, beatles, etc.
Pab

[timmbass]

You might be interested in these links as you continue to look into passive or active jazz basses:

http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_prewire_bassoption.html

http://audereaudio.com/JBass.htm

http://www.east-uk.com/jrhome.htm

[janekbass]

Pab,

I'm not sure I can tell you the pros and cons of it all, but I can tell you what I prefer and what seems to have worked for me so far.

I have active electronics, and I do have an onboard eq, but with all eq's anywhere I run it totally flat to produce the sound from the fingers and the wood.

If you're playing 70's funk I would think the jazz bass you talk about would be ideal. why not leave it passive? and just play it as it was made back in the day. It's going to be nice and dirty, and give the music you're playing some real grit when you dig in.

EQ can be useful to tune the bass sound to different rooms and venues that you'll be playing, but I wouldn't rely on it for your sound in general. Just to make small tweaks.

I find with certain amps I have to roll off a lot of top end in the eq as they're super bright. SWR/Trace Elliot/Hatke for instance. Not that I really play those amps much at all, but it does happen sometimes.

I hope this helps.

Easy,

Janek